Information Services Company Reduced Sales Order Lead Time By 33% With Kure
PROJECT SUMMARY
The problem: The company was experiencing excessive sales order lead times—averaging 21 days from order placement to delivery—which led to customer complaints, delayed revenue, and growing risk of losing business to competitors.
By streamlining the order fulfillment process, the company reduced sales order lead time from 21 days to 14 days, achieving a 33% improvement in delivery speed and significantly increasing customer satisfaction and on-time revenue.
The Problem
Order fulfillment is one of the most critical elements of customer satisfaction. If sales orders take too long to move from entry to delivery, customers quickly lose patience, and revenue is delayed. This organization was struggling with exactly that challenge—orders were taking too long to process, and complaints were rising.
The average time from a sales order being placed to final delivery was 21 days. Customers found this lead time unacceptable, and leadership realized that if it continued, they risked losing both valuable customers and significant sales revenue.
To address the issue, the company chose Kure, a smart improvement platform designed to guide teams step by step, complete projects faster, and automatically document results. They also kept Ethical Efficiency™ top of mind—making sure the improvements would not only increase speed, but also reduce stress, confusion, and rework for everyone involved.
The Root Causes
With Kure guiding the investigation, the team uncovered several root causes:
System access issues: Limited permissions made it difficult for staff to view and update key information.
Missing shipping data: Sales reps often didn’t maintain shipping address information, making it impossible to pre-assign freight companies.
No standard forms: There was no clear, uniform process for collecting required customer information.
Delayed payment verification: Credit card information and authorizations were not gathered at the start, causing unnecessary delays later.
These gaps combined to stretch the process and frustrate customers.
The Solutions
Using Kure’s structured approach, the team quickly identified and implemented solutions:
Designed a standard process for collecting customer profile, shipping, and payment information.
Created standardized forms that required all necessary fields to be completed before order submission.
Improved inventory data management to ensure stock availability was always up to date.
Updated access permissions so that all process participants had the information they needed.
Trained sales reps on communicating with customers about the importance of providing accurate data.
Built and maintained a list of freight companies linked to customer shipping addresses for faster assignment.
Kure ensured every step of this process was tracked, solutions were documented, and progress was transparent to leadership in real time.
The Results
With these improvements, sales order lead time was reduced by more than 30%. What once took three weeks could now be completed in two. Customers immediately noticed the faster turnaround, expressing higher satisfaction and renewed trust. Revenue was also realized more quickly, giving the company a strong financial advantage.
Because the project was managed in Kure, the results were automatically documented, saving the team time and ensuring a clear record of success.
Conclusion
By choosing Kure, the organization not only solved a pressing challenge in order fulfillment but also demonstrated how smart project management can deliver results faster and with less effort. Kure’s intuitive guidance and automated documentation allowed the team to focus on solutions rather than paperwork, accelerating the entire improvement effort. With Kure, the company is now better equipped to continue enhancing customer satisfaction, reducing delays, and positioning itself for future success.
*We value our clients’ confidentiality. While we’ve changed their names, the results are real.
